Bayangol Prefecture No.3 High School propaganda wall promoting
"ethnic harmony like a family".

Mongolians cited the
19th century French novelist Alphonse Daudet’s “The Last Lesson”:
“when a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their
language it is as if they had the key to their prison.”

"Apparently our nation is reduced to a Chinese
colony" by Rashizamts

A post from a Southern Mongolian:
"Let us speak up, let us stand up in order not to feel the guilt and
shame before our people and nation. Let us do only one thing, rise
up!"

The Bayangol No.3 High School,
the last school to provide
instruction in the Mongolian
language in the Bayangol
Prefecture of China’s so-called
“Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous
Region,” was banned from using
Mongolian earlier this week.

On December 18, 2017, the first
post from Mongolian parents of
the affected area appeared on
the Chinese social media WeChat:
“Today, Mongolian language
instruction in all schools
across Bayangol Prefecture is
put to an end. We are demanding
a just solution from the State
Ethnic Affairs Commission and
the Eight Provinces and
Autonomous Regions Mongolian
Language Work Association.”

According to an official
document entitled “Notice
Regarding the Issuance of the
‘Autonomous Region’s Proposal on
Bilingual Education Curriculum
Deployment at Compulsory
Education Level’” [xin jiao ji
(2017) No.10] issued by the
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous
Region Education Department,
starting September 1, 2017, “all
courses offered in elementary
and middle/high schools must use
the national common language and
written system as the language
of instruction, and additionally
offer the ethnic language as a
course.”

“The so-called bilingual
education is nothing but a
monolingual education, i.e.
Chinese language education,” Mr.
Bayar, a long time dissident in
exile in Japan and the General
Secretary of the Inner Mongolian
People’s Party, told the
Southern Mongolian Human Rights
Information Center (SMHRIC).
“Needless to say, the ‘national
common language’ is Chinese, and
make no mistake, the ‘ethnic
language’ mentioned in the
document is offered as a single,
separate, and elective course
just like a foreign language. It
is no longer the language of
instruction for any other
courses.”

The news sparked widespread
outrage among Mongolians across
Southern (Inner) Mongolia. Posts
of protest by Mongolian
students, teachers, writers, and
even ordinary herders have gone
viral on the few available
social media outlets in China
including WeChat, Weibo, and
Bainuu.

“Apparently our nation is
reduced to a Chinese colony,” a
Mongolian blogger named
Rashizamts wrote in
a post on his Bainuu space,
along with a boycott sign on the
word “Chinese” written in
Mongolian.

Many cited the 19th
century French novelist Alphonse
Daudet’s “The Last Lesson,”
which states, “when a people are
enslaved, as long as they hold
fast to their language it is as
if they had the key to their
prison.”

“The prose ’The Last Lesson’
narrates about the Prussian
occupation of France in the 19th
century,” a Mongolian named
Soyoloo wrote on his WeChat.
“However, today in the 21st
century, we still need to shout
‘down with fascism!’ loudly. My
heart is bleeding. I will, and
we will feel the deepest guilt
and humiliation that will never
be whitewashed if our nation is
finished like this.

“Let us
cry out, let us stand up in
order not to feel the guilt and
shame before our people and
nation. Let us do only one
thing, rise up!” Soyoloo
continued.

Many Internet posts and even
official news articles
discussing this event have been
removed by the Chinese
authorities. A widely circulated
article entitled “Bayangol
Prefecture of Xinjiang Bans
Mongolian Language Instruction
Entirely, Southern Mongolians
Shocked, Outraged and Concerned”
was removed from all WeChat
groups and any other sources in
China. The link returns, “The
contents are made unavailable
due to certain violation of
rules and regulations.”